Biography
Gold Panda has traversed a wide spectrum of sounds, from lush glitch-hop built on samples to shadowy, boundary-pushing techno. His first album arrived in 2010 as Lucky Shiner, blending microhouse with downtempo in ways that sometimes echoed DJ Shadow and Four Tet, and later projects such as 2016’s Good Luck and Do Your Best extended this atmospheric club focus while also embracing more introspective pieces. Additional ventures include a 2018 collaboration with Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco under the name Selling, alongside forays into minimal house as DJ Jenifa and ambient-drone explorations as Softman. Gold Panda resurfaced in 2022 with The Work, an album contemplating middle age, fatherhood, and sobriety.
Known for his reserved demeanor and born Derwin Dicker, the producer first dabbled in electronics during the late ’90s while still a teenager, freely slicing pop tracks on a sampler belonging to his music-producer uncle. By his late twenties he was delivering remixes for Bloc Party and Little Boots while attracting attention from tastemakers through his own hip-hop-inflected glitch compositions. The EPs Before, Miyamae, and Quitter’s Raga surfaced in 2009, followed in 2010 by the single You and the full-length Lucky Shiner on Ghostly International. After supplying a mix for !K7’s DJ-Kicks series and issuing the 2011 rarities collection Companion, Dicker embarked on travels that shaped the global-music themes of his 2013 second album, Half of Where You Live. Soon afterward came the Reprise EP, built around the album tracks “Reprise” and “Community” and featuring reinterpretations by Fort Romeau and T. Hemingway.
Three years passed before the next Gold Panda album, 2016’s Good Luck and Do Your Best, issued on City Slang. The record drew from the distinctive light the producer observed in Japan during April and October visits, resulting in a noticeably warmer palette than its predecessor. Later that year the darker, more experimental Kingdom EP appeared, succeeded by Your Good Times Are Just Beginning, a remix collection drawn from the recent album.
Dicker subsequently concentrated on side projects for several years, first joining Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco to release the ambient-house album On Reflection in 2018 as Selling. He also issued ambient-drone works under the Softman name and the house album Jag Trax as DJ Jenifa, a nod to De La Soul’s “Jenifa Taught Me,” which references a character named Derwin. After becoming a father and reassessing his priorities, Dicker revived the Gold Panda alias for 2022’s The Work.
Known for his reserved demeanor and born Derwin Dicker, the producer first dabbled in electronics during the late ’90s while still a teenager, freely slicing pop tracks on a sampler belonging to his music-producer uncle. By his late twenties he was delivering remixes for Bloc Party and Little Boots while attracting attention from tastemakers through his own hip-hop-inflected glitch compositions. The EPs Before, Miyamae, and Quitter’s Raga surfaced in 2009, followed in 2010 by the single You and the full-length Lucky Shiner on Ghostly International. After supplying a mix for !K7’s DJ-Kicks series and issuing the 2011 rarities collection Companion, Dicker embarked on travels that shaped the global-music themes of his 2013 second album, Half of Where You Live. Soon afterward came the Reprise EP, built around the album tracks “Reprise” and “Community” and featuring reinterpretations by Fort Romeau and T. Hemingway.
Three years passed before the next Gold Panda album, 2016’s Good Luck and Do Your Best, issued on City Slang. The record drew from the distinctive light the producer observed in Japan during April and October visits, resulting in a noticeably warmer palette than its predecessor. Later that year the darker, more experimental Kingdom EP appeared, succeeded by Your Good Times Are Just Beginning, a remix collection drawn from the recent album.
Dicker subsequently concentrated on side projects for several years, first joining Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco to release the ambient-house album On Reflection in 2018 as Selling. He also issued ambient-drone works under the Softman name and the house album Jag Trax as DJ Jenifa, a nod to De La Soul’s “Jenifa Taught Me,” which references a character named Derwin. After becoming a father and reassessing his priorities, Dicker revived the Gold Panda alias for 2022’s The Work.
Albums
Stay Here
2024
Us Two
2024
The Work
2022
On Reflection
2018
Good Luck and Do Your Best
2016
Reprise
2013
Half Of Where You Live
2013
Trust
2013
An Iceberg Hurled Northward Through Clouds (DJ-Kicks)
2011
Companion
2011
Marriage
2011
Lucky Shiner (Deluxe Edition)
2010
Lucky Shiner
2010
You EP
2010
Snow & Taxis
2010
Miyamae EP
2009
Singles
